Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro winger Kerry Abello has been called up for the U17 Women’s National Team trip to South Korea August 25th-September 4th.

Congrats Kerry! We are so proud of you.

Below is the U.S. Soccer press release:

CHICAGO (Aug. 14, 2014) – U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team head coach B.J. Snow has named 20 players for a trip to the Korea Republic from Aug. 25-Sept. 4 where the squad will play multiple matches against the host.

South Korea won the 2008 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup that was played in Trinidad & Tobago. Asia teams have won three of the four FIFA U-17 tournaments contested so far with Korea DPR winning the inaugural event in 2008 and Japan taking the title in 2014.

This will be the first international trip for this group of players at the U-17 level. The U-17s last gathered for a domestic training camp from June 15-22 in Chula Vista, California.

The U.S. roster represents 10 different states. There are six players from California, the most of any state. Colorado has three and no other state has more than two.

The age cut-off for the next U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2016, which is currently scheduled to be played in Jordan, is Jan. 1, 1999. Seventeen players on the roster are 1999s, with three born in 2000.

U.S. U-17 WNT Roster by Position:

GOALKEEPERS (2): Hilary Beall (West Coast FC; Laguna Beach, Calif.), Brooke Bollinger (Space Coast United Storm; Indialantic, Fla.)
DEFENDERS (5): Kerry Abello (Team Chicago; Aurora, Ill.), Joanna Harber (Eastside FC; Bellevue, Wash.), Brooke Redington (South Bay Force; Manhattan Beach, Calif.), Karina Rodriguez (So Cal Blues; Torrance, Calif.), Sydney Zandi (Penn Fusion; West Chester, Pa.)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Jaelin Howell (Real Colorado; Windsor, Colo.), Rachel Jones (Tophat SC; Lawrenceville, Ga.), Kiara Pickett (Eagles; Santa Barbara, Calif.), Izzy Rodriguez (Michigan Hawks; Canton, Mich.), Ashley Sanchez (So Cal Blues; Monrovia, Calif.), Taryn Torres (Solar Chelsea SC; Frisco, Texas), Kali Trevithick (Crossfire; Redmond, Wash.)
FORWARDS (6):Tess Boade (Colorado Rush; Castle Rock, Colo.), Rachel Dorwart (Penn Fusion; Mechanicsburg, Pa.), Civana Kuhlman (Colorado Rush; Littleton, Colo.), Tara McKeown (Eagles; Newbury, Calif.), Alexa Spaanstra (Michigan Hawks; Brighton, Mich.), Frankie Tagliaferri (PDA; Colt Neck, N.J.)

Team Chicago Academy-Internacional forward Sarah Laws has accepted a scholarship offer from Belmont University to continue her soccer career as part of Head Coach Heather Henson’s 2015 recruiting class. Sarah plays her prep soccer for Julie Bergstrom at Waubonsie Valley H.S.

The Belmont Bruins are part of the NCAA Division I Ohio Valley Conference. In conference play Sarah will battle against three former Team Chicago Academy players at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Jorie Clawson, Rachael Brots, and Kelsey Pruett.

The Sixth Installment of Internacional’s Danish experience:

Monday, August 4th:

Our day started out with, once again, the same breakfast we have had for the past 6 days. We had a slightly earlier start to the day because of a planned practice at 8:30 that morning. However, it was pouring down and to our relief, Phil announced cancellation of practice because he didn’t want us all to have to bring home wet clothes (which would have made the smell even more unbearable).

Soo… instead we all got ready for the day of shopping, walking around, and sightseeing in Sweden. Unfortunately, the weather was still not cooperating as it continued to rain all morning. So instead of heading straight to Sweden, we took a detour in Fields mall. After the train ride across the water, we all went shopping in Malmo, Sweden. There were a lot of stores that we recognized from the US and not as many souvenir shops as we thought there would be. The weather thankfully cleared up in the afternoon and after the shopping and walking around was done, we began our trek back to Denmark. Everyone was quiet and some were falling asleep on the train ride.

Once back at the hotel, we went to the Klubhus (Club House). Quincy and Keely found themselves playing multiple games of air hockey with three little Danish girls to pass the time while we were waiting for our dinners. After a long day of walking and traveling to another country, we all headed back to our rooms to pack up all our belongings for the next days travels back home.

Tuesday, August 5th:

For the final time, we had the same breakfast at the hotel. We piled all of our suitcases into Phil’s room before walking to his favorite bakery. Once we reached the bakery, we all tried some different Danish pastries and they were all incredibly scrumptious. Phil gave us his final speech of the trip to all of us as we ate our treats. The Brøndby team bus came to pick us up from the hotel and take us to the airport. We grabbed all our baggage and our trophy and said our goodbyes to Anna and Phil. Unfortunately,our flight was delayed due to mechanical issues for almost 2 hours. But going on great trips always includes some delays and problems and we were lucky enough to not encounter many. None the less, we all made it back safe and sound with exhausted bodies and memories that we know we won’t forget.

Overall, the last week or so has amounted to an incredible trip that we were all so lucky to experience. Although we were missing a few teammates back home (Emily, Sarah, Grace, Erin), the week was filled with team bonding and learning opportunities. A special thanks goes to everyone who helped make this happen, including our parents, Team Chicago as a whole, and the wonderful Phil Nielsen who survived a week living with 17 teenage girls… Or make that 17 wonderful women:)

By: Nikki and Shelby

The fifth installment of Internacional’s Danish experience:

Saturday, August 2 (part 2)

Our Saturday afternoon started out a little rough. Half of the team showed up a few minutes late to the station so we watched our train leave without us. But, thanks to our Public Transportation Expert (Phil), we caught the next one 15 minutes later. Soon we were in Phil’s hometown, Skovshoved. The first stop was his old club’s building followed by a visit to his childhood house. The tour of the neighborhood included stories of young Phil playing street soccer and getting Bon bons from his neighbor. It was cool to see where our coach first started to play soccer.

Next we piled on to a bus that took us down the coast toward Copenhagen. Along the way we saw the American Embassy, Sweden in the distance, and our 100th Joe and the Juice which seems to be the most popular sandwich shop in Denmark.

When we got off the bus we went straight to Tivoli, the second oldest amusement park in the world located in the middle of Copenhagen. From there we split in to groups and explored the park. The adrenaline junkies went straight to the coasters while others found good places to eat and relax. At 10:30 we all headed back to the rooms for much needed sleep.

Sunday, August 3

The next morning we got to eat a late breakfast and got to our Copenhagen canal tour by noon. On top of seeing some of the cool buildings, streets, and bridges in Copenhagen, we also saw a naked lady on our tour who had no problem with an entire boat of tourists seeing her. Halfway through the tour, we got to see the famous Little Mermaid statue that is on most of the T-shirts and postcards in the souvenir shops. After the canal tour, we had time to shop around Copenhagen. Popular purchases among the team were bucket hats, rain jackets, and street jewelry. Tati, Mal, and Jori even got new piercings. Copenhagen definitely didn’t disappoint!

Our next stop was Christiania and Pusher Street, the green light district in Denmark. We felt like we walked right into the 70s and it was interesting to see how different their culture was from the rest of Denmark. It’s definitely something to ask one of us inter girls about when we get home.

When we finally got back to the hotel we devoured 9 pizzas in about 5 minutes and 2 cakes even faster. The rest of the night we had to relax and play games together.

Brought to you by room 517
Cailin, Alena, Miranda

The fourth installment of Internacional’s Danish experience:

Friday, August 1st

Friday morning as usual we had the same breakfast for the 5th day in a row. After having our meal we had to get ready for a 9:30 – sharp – practice on the turf fields. There we worked on moving the ball out of the back and pressuring as a unit, which we found was incredibly fun and interesting. These were the main things we learned we needed to work on after reviewing our games the previous week. After being sweaty from practice we all went back and showered to get ready before we went to our new teammate Anna’s hometown – Lyngby. After shopping and getting a snack at Anna’s favorite places we took the bus to her traditional Danish house and meet her beautiful family. We were very blessed to receive this opportunity to hangout and be a part of a Danish Barbecue! Anna’s family prepared an amazing Danish dish for the team and of course even better dessert. After getting our stomachs stuffed we played soccer in the backyard (cause we haven’t had enough soccer yet), there we learned that as a team we were incredible at juggling. After an eventful night we made our way back to bed for some sleep, which was much overdue.

Saturday, August 2nd

Saturday we woke up early again and started our morning just like the others, which we found very shocking. This time we were very excited because we went to visit Hamlets Castle in Helsingor. Even though Hamlet isn’t real we really went to (Holger Danske’s Castle). We spent an hour inside the castle taking many many pictures and learning amazing things! Then we got to explore Helsingor by shopping and grabbing Danish food. So all in all, it was another great experience in Denmark!

By: Kiley and Keely